Terms negotiated, candidate introduced and employed, payment for the placement not received within terms and the debtor still expects a rebate when you chase them for payment?

Sound familiar? Here’s a look at a situation we’ve dealt with recently which didn’t cost our client anything upfront, no win – no fee commission debt recovery basis.

After we heard our clients explanation of what had happened, we requested copies of relevant documents and correspondence from them, these quickly completed the picture that they had demonstrated both patience and willing to negotiate from the outset with this debtor, who did not honour their side of the agreement, this despite the conditions being set to their full acceptance initially. Our client had worked historically with this debtor, without problems, so there was no reason to see a few negotiations on the existing terms as warning signs that they would result in problems receiving payment on time. The rebate period was negotiated and once agreed our client began introducing selected candidates; carefully hand-picked and screened for the position which they were put forward to fill. Interviews took place, the right candidate was selected, an offer was made and employment commenced. So far so good. Until the payment terms for the introduction were broken, and payment was not made in accordance with the terms of business in place between our client and the debtor. In line with their professional approach to business, our client had even sent a payment reminder to the debtor before payment fell overdue. As most of you interested in reading about this will likely know, rebate terms sometimes used in recruitment terms of business have a big part to play in relation to payment being made promptly or not. As the debtor then failed to make payment within the agreed terms of payment they disqualified themselves from the rebate period which they had spent time on renegotiating in the first place.

Our client then spent a considerable amount of time and effort on attempting to chase the overdue payment, eventually after emails and rejected phone calls they managed to get to discuss the matter, only to face a dispute from the debtor that the employee had decided to move on as working with the company wasn’t for them – This was 2 months after the payment was already overdue for the introduction. The debtor argued that they wanted to pay less according to the rebate schedule. Our client pointed out the fact that they had disqualified themselves from this – so, the debtor refused to pay anything… Communications began to further break down leading to frustrating conversations between our client and the debtor. We have since explained to our client that well before reaching this point they should contact us in future, which is clear to them now to do, and why. Our client took it upon themselves to try to negotiate the matter to conclusion which resulted in them discounting the total due amount by the rebate amount which would have been applicable only if the debtor had paid in full and on time. This was an attempt to try to speed up resolving the matter. The debtor again did not make a payment until more chasing from our client, then eventually they made a small part payment towards the now rebate discounted due amount, with a promise to pay the balance a month later……. by now the saga is nearing 5 months ongoing……. Our client contacted us when there was no sign of the balance after waiting a further month beyond that point.

Using our knowledgeable approach to recruitment debts, we began our process after receiving instruction to do so, and shortly after contacting the debtor a 2 part payment plan was agreed, first part payable immediately, 2nd part within 3 weeks, we then remained in regular contact with the debtor and monitored the situation, to ensure that the second payment was received promptly. From the day of our involvement our client received full payment of the outstanding amount within 6 weeks and had spent all of that time focusing solely on new business.

We resolved the situation utilising the Late Payment Act meaning the debtor paid additional late payment charges to our client, which they then used to cover all of our win fee commission, still leaving them with some surplus.

Again! Our client ended up with more money than the full amount of their invoice, and that was after paying us for the recovery work.recruitment debt paid